As I recall New Jersey was way up there, and had to work some magic to get under without buying out. Didn't they try burying Mogilny in the minors and hoped he wouldn't report, only to have him actually play down there at his full salary?

Still, its utterly astounding that Detroit got under the cap with only buying out Hatcher ($6.5 million), Whitney ($3.5 million), and McCarty ($2.25 million). Then again, those numbers themselves are utterly astounding.

At long last the season has started. Björklöven have already played two games, beating Boden 4-0 on the road and Pitå 7-2 at home.

But they should win these games. They've been demoted twice and are currently playing in Div 1A, the level below Allsvenskan, which in turn is the level just below the Swedish Elite League.

Unfortunately winning the league is not even enough.

There are six leagues at this level, that play till Xmas. Then the four best teams from each league go on to the next stage, where they form three eight team leagues (known as Allettan Norra, Allettan Mellan and Allettan Södra) that face each other home and away. Meanwhile the remaining teams in the original six leagues continue on.

Then at the end of the regular season, the winners of the "remainder" leagues are pitted against the teams ending third or fourth in the three Allettan leagues, a total of six matchups that are decided in best out of three, where the Allettan teams have home advantage in game three.

To the six teams that win these matchups, you add two of the three teams ending in second place in the Allettan leagues to form four new best out of three matchups. Same as before, higher place in the regular season means home advantage in the third game.

The four winners of these matchups then face the three Allettan league winners plus the best second place team in yet another best out of three matchup. The four teams that then remain standing go on to a relegation league where they face the two worst teams from Allsvenskan (aka SHA) where all teams face eachother twice (home + away).

The winner and runner up of the relegation league than earns slots in Allsvenskan for next season.

It's gruelling and nerve wrecking. And best out of three means you may afford to lose one game, but never two. Puts a lot of pressure on the teams. A few silly mistakes and you are doomed to stay in this ninth ring of hell for yet another year...

Per wrote:There are six leagues at this level, that play till Xmas. Then the four best teams from each league go on to the next stage, where they form three eight team leagues (known as Allettan Norra, Allettan Mellan and Allettan Södra) that face each other home and away. Meanwhile the remaining teams in the original six leagues continue on.

Then at the end of the regular season, the winners of the "remainder" leagues are pitted against the teams ending third or fourth in the three Allettan leagues, a total of six matchups that are decided in best out of three, where the Allettan teams have home advantage in game three.

To the six teams that win these matchups, you add two of the three teams ending in second place in the Allettan leagues to form four new best out of three matchups. Same as before, higher place in the regular season means home advantage in the third game.

The four winners of these matchups then face the three Allettan league winners plus the best second place team in yet another best out of three matchup. The four teams that then remain standing go on to a relegation league where they face the two worst teams from Allsvenskan (aka SHA) where all teams face eachother twice (home + away).

The winner and runner up of the relegation league than earns slots in Allsvenskan for next season.

It's gruelling and nerve wrecking. And best out of three means you may afford to lose one game, but never two. Puts a lot of pressure on the teams. A few silly mistakes and you are doomed to stay in this ninth ring of hell for yet another year...

Per wrote:There are six leagues at this level, that play till Xmas. Then the four best teams from each league go on to the next stage, where they form three eight team leagues (known as Allettan Norra, Allettan Mellan and Allettan Södra) that face each other home and away. Meanwhile the remaining teams in the original six leagues continue on.

Then at the end of the regular season, the winners of the "remainder" leagues are pitted against the teams ending third or fourth in the three Allettan leagues, a total of six matchups that are decided in best out of three, where the Allettan teams have home advantage in game three.

To the six teams that win these matchups, you add two of the three teams ending in second place in the Allettan leagues to form four new best out of three matchups. Same as before, higher place in the regular season means home advantage in the third game.

The four winners of these matchups then face the three Allettan league winners plus the best second place team in yet another best out of three matchup. The four teams that then remain standing go on to a relegation league where they face the two worst teams from Allsvenskan (aka SHA) where all teams face eachother twice (home + away).

The winner and runner up of the relegation league than earns slots in Allsvenskan for next season.

It's gruelling and nerve wrecking. And best out of three means you may afford to lose one game, but never two. Puts a lot of pressure on the teams. A few silly mistakes and you are doomed to stay in this ninth ring of hell for yet another year...

Yeah, well, the guy who made the hug and got punched has an Avery-like reputation, so I'm pretty sure the hug was meant as a taunt. And the smile on his face after getting punched seems to confirm this.

In recent years they have stopped having an automatic seed where the team finishing first plays the team finishing eighth. Instead they have a televised event where the top seeds choose their opponents...

I.e. the team finishing first can pick any of the teams finishing 5th though 8th, then the second seed picks, the third seed, and the team finishing fourth gets the opponent that is left. I love this concept. First of all, it makes finishing first even more important. Seconsly, it adds a strategic and psychological dimension. I mean, if team #1 picks team #5 - what a snub! So far it hasn't happened, but it's far from always they pick in the strict mathematical order.

I think Luleå mainly picked AIK for logistical reasons; it's a one hour flight down to Stockholm. Playing Modo in Örnsköldsvik would mean a four hour bus ride each way... HV in Jönköping and Färjestad in Karlstad would mean switching flights in Stockholm, so playing AIK will be only half the travel hassle that any other matchup would be. Plus, they're the seventh seed, so beating them shouldn't be too hard.

The quarter finals start on March 10th.

Djurgården and Timrå (the two teams ending 11th and 12th) will play relegation games against four teams from Allsvenskan (the second tier league) to defend their SEL status.

As you see from the final standings, in Sweden we still show the tied games separately (W T L). A win (in regulation) is awarded three points, a tie one point. Then, to the far right, they show you the OT and penalty shootout results. An overtime win (OTW) or a shootout win (GWSW) gives you an additional point, so winning after regulation gives you a total of two points. I like this setup, because that means the winning stats in years with OT and shootouts can be compared to winning stats in season when a tie was a tie was a tie. In the NHL the number of wins in seasons with overtime and shootouts.

I personally favour a system with five minutes over time and no shootout. If you can't win in regulation and you can't win in overtime, you should not be registered for a win, imho. And I also like a syatem that differentiates between a regulation win and an OT win, so I'm happy with the three point system. Still hate the shootouts though.

Regular season scoring leaders contain quite a few familiar names for Canuck fans:

Well, he was drafted by the Canucks in 2003... afaik he has never been signed by them, and I'm not sure, but I think exclusive rights to unsigned European draft picks expires after two years, right? There is a suggestionn from the European leagues that that time period should be extended, since the feeling is that many players are brought to the NHL too early because of the two year limit, but afaik that's still the rule. Afaik he's Modo property, but I'd assume he may be considered a free agent by the NHL.

Kiril Koltsov is a special case. He really jerked the club around and as long as he can pull on a pair of skates they will hang on to his rights. Plus I believe he is grandfather into the old agreement that had no specific period when you must sign a player by. If he ever wants to play in the NHL it's going to be with the Canucks and no matter how good he is he will start in the AHL. Amongst other things he walked out on the club half way through a season. He will play out his days in the KHL